Dutch internet providers still offering platform to Russian propaganda despite sanctions
Several Dutch internet service providers and social media companies are not complying with European sanctions against Russia and still allow a platform for Russian media outlets, Nieuwsuur reported after speaking with researchers and sanction lawyers.
The European sanctions on Russian media companies and personalities, implemented after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, are intended to prevent Russian propaganda from being broadcast in Europe and to punish Russia. The sanctions apply to all platforms, from broadcast TV to social media. But the websites of many sanctioned Russian media outlets are still available.
After questions from Nieuwsuur, the three major Dutch internet providers - KPN, VodafoneZiggo, and Odido - took down several websites of sanctioned media companies. These included a livestream of the Russian army channel and the website of Russia Today.
“Many internet service providers in Europe are currently not complying with European legislation,” Niels ten Oever, a researcher at the University of Amsterdam who monitors the sanctioned websites, told Nieuwsuur.
A study by the NGOs Alliance4Europe and Science Feedback last year also discovered sanctioned material on social media. “We found that nearly 800 sanctioned channels from Russia and Belarus are still active on social media platforms, with tens of millions of followers,” the researchers told the program.
Dutch members of the European Parliament from various parties demand better enforcement. “Piracy, such as the illegal distribution of films, is very effectively enforced,” MEP Bart Groothuis (VVD) told the program. “This is much less so. It undermines the objectives of the sanctions, so that’s a bad thing.”
“In the Netherlands, sanctions are enforced through criminal law, by the Public Prosecution Service (OM),” sanctions lawyer Yvo Amar explained to Nieuwsuur. “They have limited capacity and primarily focus on export sanctions and their circumvention.”
The Council of State is currently assessing a new sanctions law, intended to simplify the enforcement process in the Netherlands. “If that law comes into effect, you can also impose fines on companies, without immediately leading to a prison sentence,” Amar said.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs told Nieuwsuur that “everyone must comply with the law, including internet providers,” and the OM can “take criminal action against violations of sanctions.”
